New Delhi, the capital of India and its third-largest
city, consists of two parts: Old Delhi and New Delhi. Steeped in history, the
city is the perfect combination of the old and the new. Busy thoroughfares weave
around modern buildings while the architectural marvels of yesterday, maintain
their dignity and history of centuries. The capital of Muslim India between
the 17th and 19th centuries, Old Delhi seems somewhat anachronistic as compared
to New Delhi. It draws one through congested roads and lanes, interesting mosques,
monuments and forts relating to its chequered history. New Delhi as a sharp
contrast is spacious and modern. It was created by the British as their capital
in India, after they shifted base from Calcutta. The 17th-century walled city
of Shahjahanabad with city gates, narrow alleys, the enormous Red Fort and Jama
Masjid, temples, mosques, bazaar and the famous street Chandni Chowk is known
as Old Delhi today. Paharganj near the New Delhi railway station acts as a sort
of 'buffer zone' between the old and new cities. New Delhi is a planned city
of wide, tree-lined streets, parks and fountains. Areas around Connaught Place
and around Rajpath to the south are subdivided into the business and residential
areas. Rajpath is flanked by the India Gate memorial in the east and Rashtrapati
Bhavan, the residence of the Indian president in the west. Janpath, running
off Connaught Place to the south, is one of the most important streets, with
the Government of India tourist office, the Student Travel Information Centre
in the Imperial Hotel and a number of other useful addresses.

HISTORY

Though Delhi was not the capital of India from the
very outset, it nevertheless played a very distinctive role in Indian history.
Almost 3000 years ago, Indraprastha, of Mahabharata fame was apparently located
exactly where Delhi is situated today. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the
Mughal emperors made Agra their capital, and though under British rule the capital
had changed to Calcutta, it was shifted back to the newly constructed New Delhi
in 1911. Delhi was surrounded by no less than eight cities. The first four were
to the south around the area where the Qutab Minar stands. Indraprastha, centered
near present-day Purana Qila, was the earliest known Delhi.. At the beginning
of the 12th Century the last Hindu kingdom of Delhi was ruled by the Tomara
and Chauhan dynasties and was also near the Qutab Minar and Suraj Kund, now
in Haryana. This city was followed by Siri, constructed by Ala-ud-din near present-day
Hauz Khas in the 12th century. The third Delhi, Tughlaqabad, stood 10 km south-east
of the Qutab Minar. The fourth Delhi, Jahanpanah, around the 14th century also
stood near the Qutab Minar. The fifth Delhi was Ferozabad, now called Feroz
Shah Kotla. Traces of a mosque in which Tamerlane prayed during his attack in
India and an Ashoka Pillar can still be seen in its ruins. The Afghan ruler
Sher Shah defeated Humayun and took control of Delhi. He created the sixth Delhi
at Purana Qila, near the India Gate. In the 17th century, the Mughal emperor,
Shah Jahan shifted the Mughal capital from Agra to Delhi, creating the seventh
Delhi in the process, at Shahjahanabad. It roughly corresponds to Old Delhi
today and is largely preserved. The Red Fort and Jama Masjid were part of his
Delhi. The eighth Delhi, was created when the British shifted thier capital
from Calcutta to New Delhi in 1911. The city was however, officially inaugurated
in 1931. Delhi has been invaded, plundered,looted through the ages; Tamerlane
in the 14th century; the Persian emperor, Nadir Shah, who crated the Kohinoor
Diamond and the famous Peacock Throne off to Iran. The Mughal emporer Babur
occupied it in the 16th century. The British captured Delhi in 1803 which played
a central role in the resistance against the British in the Indian Mutiny of
1857.